


Shedding Season

by aretia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Biology, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-25 15:54:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13838082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aretia/pseuds/aretia
Summary: Narti finds a kindred spirit to take care of her while she sheds her skin.





	Shedding Season

**Author's Note:**

> and just like that, I've fallen into another level of rarepair hell
> 
> i know some people think they're related, which they're not in this fic obviously! but I did borrow the idea that their non-Galra half is the same species.

Everything itched. Everything ached, and the pain sent fear scratching at her chest. But she knew she was safe.

After Lotor left her for dead, Narti was taken in by the Blade of Marmora. There, she met many Galra who were kinder to half-breeds than those she had met in the Empire, some of them half-breeds themselves. One of them, Regris, was half-Galra half-Sylvyth just like Narti, and the two of them became close. 

Sylvyth were supposed to shed their skin in small pieces once a year, but only if they had the proper conditions and nutrition. Narti had been malnourished since she was an adolescent, and even after she joined Lotor’s team, she was under stress so often that it seemed to have delayed her shedding. The result was her growing into a too small skin that had to come off all at once now that she finally had the resources. Shedding the skin itself was an arduous and painful process, and now she was bedridden for days while she waited for the new one to grow hard enough to protect her. 

She hated it. She hated feeling so vulnerable and not being able to move around and take care of herself. But that was the natural order of things. Someone would care for her when she needed it, and she would return the favor as needed. It was a concept that was foreign to her after what she had been through. She shuddered and pushed the thoughts out of her head. Narti scratched an itch on her shoulder to distract herself from the boredom, the gnawing emptiness of being trapped in her room alone.

Her bedroom door whooshed when it opened. Only one Blade was allowed to access her chamber, in case the members would feel spiteful towards a former agent of the Prince and try to attack her in her sensitive state. The one who had that honor was Regris. When he walked in, her senses were overwhelmed by the aroma of hot food, and she could pick up Regris’s sweet scent underlying it. Sylvyth were attuned to pheromones and used them to communicate and identify each other, and as a half-Sylvyth himself, Regris had the prettiest scent of anyone in the Blade. Today, he smelled like fear—hesitation, more specifically.

“Hey, how are you holding up?” Regris said softly. He sounded closer, smelled closer too. 

Narti whimpered in response. 

Regris’s fingers brushed on top of her head, lightly stroking the skin around her small ears. “I know it’s hard, but you’ll survive this,” he said. “I brought you some soup.” Narti sat up, intending to take the bowl from him, but instead he leaned towards her and poked the spoon at her lips. 

Narti opened her mouth and swallowed the spoonful. It had a familiar taste to it, but it took her a few more bites before she figured out that it was made with her own shed skin. In ancient times, the Sylvyth ate their own skin after they shed to regain the nutrients. It was considered barbaric now, but the instinct was still in their blood, and so she couldn’t deny that it tasted delicious. 

Regris placed the bowl on the counter, and then placed his hands on top of Narti’s bed. “Let’s see how you’re doing.” She clawed to pull the blankets back down, but he had already peeled them aside. “Narti! You’ve been scratching, haven’t you?” he said in exasperation. He stood up with a huff and paced to the corner of the room, then quickly returned. In an instant, she felt cool, soothing cream rubbing over her self-inflicted scratches. “I know the blankets are itchy, but you have to stop scratching! If the outer layer of your skin is all cut up when it hardens, it won’t heal until your next shed.” 

Narti nodded along, a bit impatient with listening to Regris’s nagging when she couldn’t say anything to defend herself. Sylvyth were unable to speak, but Regris took more after his Galra side than Narti. 

“Don’t make me get the mitts!” Regris threatened in a playful tone, as he pressed his forehead against Narti’s. 

Narti hissed. She did not like her claws being bound up, even if it was to keep her from scratching. What if she needed to defend herself? She knew that she was supposed to be protected here, but she could never fully accept putting her fate in the hands of someone else.

“Heh, that’s what I thought,” said Regris. He gave her a nuzzle, rubbing his scent on her face. He draped the blanket back over her and smoothed it out with gentle touches. “You should get some rest.” That was what he always said when he was leaving. He stood up and began to walk towards the door.

Narti reached out and grabbed the tip of his tail. She sent him a mind-nudge, not enough to control him, just enough to communicate with him in words that she couldn’t say out loud. 

_Stay._

“You want me to stay?” Regris asked. Narti nodded. “I don’t know, I don’t want to scratch you.”

She patted the bed next to her, above the covers. She didn’t need to touch his skin to feel his presence. She just wanted him close.

“Alright.” Regris stripped off his armor to his undersuit, and got in the bed, on top of the covers. He snuggled in next to Narti, draping a leg over her tail. 

His warmth was pleasant enough to ease the itchy feeling, and his scent soothed the aching dread in her chest. With him, she was allowed to be vulnerable. In a few ticks, Narti was fast asleep.


End file.
